Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence received from Councillor Katie Dye, Councillor Jack Hemingway Jim Cardwell, John Clark, Melanie Taylor, William Firth, Richard Goodfellow and Natasha Luther-Jones.

There were no items of disclosable pecuniary interests.

There was no exempt information requiring the exclusion of the press and public.

Item 29, it was noted that transport carbonisation should be transport decarbonisation.

Item 33 it was noted that under climate and environment monitoring the adoption of a headline indicator on the progress to our 2038 commitment was not included in the minutes. TheCommittee felt it was difficult sometimes to quantify the progress in terms of carbon alone

The amendments will be made to the minutes of the meeting held on 22 March 2022 and taken to the next formal meeting for approval.

The Chair welcomed members and new members, Gideon Richards, David Owumi and John M Clark to this informal meeting of the Climate, Energy and Environment Committee which, in light of Met Office advice on limiting travel during extreme weather conditions, was held virtually as an informal meeting, and livestreamed to the West Yorkshire Combined Authority YouTube channel for public access purposes.  As the meeting was held informally only recommendations were made.

The Committee considered a report to advise of the governance arrangements approved by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (the Combined Authority) at the Annual Meeting on 23 June 2022 in respect of the Climate, Energy and Environment Committee.

Resolved: That the governance arrangements approved by the Combined Authority at the Annual Meeting on 23 June 2022 be noted.

The Committee considered a report and presentation to update them on the latest position on the State of the Region monitoring indicators relating to Climate and the Environment. Provided in the paper was Interim analysis for emissions, flood risk, energy efficiency and fuel poverty.

The presentation provided the latest available data and set out next steps in the process highlighting that the purpose of the paper was to provide an interim update. In terms of the emissions data the latest local information was published in June with a headline analysis on carbon dioxide emissions, reflecting the kind of design of the existing state of the region indicators.  It is proposed to make some changes to the approach for the forthcoming state of the region report so in the latest release of data, for the first time it has been possible to access local level data for a wider range of greenhouse gases in addition to co2.  It is proposed to broaden the analysis for the headline indicator to include those additional gases because they make a substantial difference to the picture and the second point to note responding to a question from a Committee member is that at the last meeting the Committee asked that it was made clear in the analysis the required rate of progress for emissions reduction to achieve substantial difference to the picture.  The State of the Region report will be published in September.

Resolved:

(i)             That the contents of the report be noted.

(ii)            That the headline analysis of the indicators and members feedback be noted.

The Committee considered a report and an update on the scope and activity of the seven prioritised programmes and the associated assurance process.

and was asked to provide feedback on the initial scope of activity being prioritised against the indicative £40m Gainshare funding allocation for Investment Priority 4:Tackling the Climate Emergency and Environmental Sustainability, in order to contribute towards delivery of the Climate and Environment Plan which sets out the first three years of activity required to make progress towards becoming a net zero carbon region by 2038.

The Climate and Environment Plan was agreed in October 2021, it sets out

our regions’ response to the climate emergency and protecting our environment. The actions in the Plan are informed by research to identify the

different pathways and interventions that could be implemented to meet net zero carbon1. There are 39 actions in the Plan which are being taken forward

in partnership and using multiple funding streams to maximise our impact. As

part of our response the Combined Authority has made an indicative allocation of £40m gainshare funding to accelerate our activity aligned to the West Yorkshire Investment Strategy (Investment Priority 4 Tackling the Climate Emergency and Environmental Sustainability).

The £40m gainshare is part of a much bigger package of work to tackle the climate emergency and compliments programmes of work proposed on transport through the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) and Zero Emission Bus Region Area Fund (ZEBRA).

Resolved:

(i)             That the contents of the report be noted.

(II)      That feedback on the initial scope of the Wave 1 actions be noted.

The Committee considered a report and presentation by Jennifer Armstrong and Jonathan Moxon to introduce the West Yorkshire Flood Innovation Programme (FLIP) and to outline its alignment with the Climate and Environment Plan (CEP).

Resolved:

(i)             That the contents of the report be noted.

(ii)            That the work of the West Yorkshire Flood Risk Innovation Programme be noted.

(iii)          That how the work on the West Yorkshire Flood Risk Innovation Project aligns with the West Yorkshire Climate and Environment Plan be considered and noted.

The Committee considered a report and verbal update on the Combined Authority Flood Risk Management (FRM) Programme and to seek endorsement of the proposed programme prior to progression into the Combined Authority’s Assurance Process.

Resolved:

(i)             That the contents of the report be noted.

(ii)            That the work done with partners to refresh the proposed Combined Authority flood programme be noted.

(iii)          That the proposed programme prior to progression into the Combined Authority’s Assurance Process be considered and recommended.

The Committee considered a report to provide an update about progress on the carbon impact assessment project and was asked to note and provide questions.

Since the meeting held on the 22 March 2022, when the Committee considered and endorsed the Combined Authority carbon toolkit, significant progress has been made in implementing the new guidance into the assurance framework and supporting training for members, partners and Combined Authority staff.

A presentation was delivered to the Committee to summarise the detailed carbon impact assessments that were undertaken to help develop and calibrate the new Assurance Framework Toolkit and the Committee was informed that these results will be formally presented at the Combined Authority meeting to be held on 22 July 2022.

The publication of the project assessments is the last substantive deliverable from the Carbon Impact Assessment Project before moving to full implementation of the new approach to carbon assessment in business case development and appraisal.

Resolved:

(i)             That the contents of the report be noted.

(ii)            That the presentation on the carbon impact assessments carried out be noted.